GRACE HALE is an American composer of both film and classical concert music. Her contemporary classical works often draw on the filmic tradition. By integrating storytelling, visual arts, stage directions, or multimedia in her concert music, Hale strives to create multidisciplinary immersive experiences that invoke listeners’ imaginations. 

 

In 2018, Hale was recognized as the first prize recipient of the Colorado Collegiate Composition Competition with her piece Rhapsody on a Cityscape for British Brass Band. She also holds an honorable mention in the 2017 International Summer Academy of Music’s Joseph Dorfman Memorial Competition with her solo piano work The Vagabond. Her published music includes two piano solos, A Wayward Leaf (2022) and Thorne Miniatures (2020), that were published by the CCC Music Company. Among notable large ensemble performances, Hale collaborated with mandolinist Sierra Hull on an orchestral arrangement of her song "Sunday," which was performed by the Portland Chamber Orchestra and the Walla Walla Symphony, conducted by Jaacov Bergman in 2019. 

 

Hale has attended programs at the Collaborative Composition Initiative Workshop (2022), LunARTS Festival (2018), the International Summer Academy of Music in Germany (2017), Snow Pond Music Festival (2017), Curtis Summerfest (2016), California Summer Music (2015), NYU/ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop (2015), Oberlin Composition Workshop (2014), and Interlochen Summer Academy (2013). Recently, she was invited to Alderworks Alaska for a month-long residency where she composed her new piano quartet with fixed media Under-Skin River (2022) and gave a workshop on musical intuition and composition. Under-Skin River was premiered by the Unheard-of Ensemble in Brooklyn in July, 2022. 

 

Hale is currently pursuing her Master of Music in Composition at the University of Michigan and received her Bachelor of Arts in Music from Colorado College in 2020. She studied composition under Michael Daugherty, Kristy Kuster, Ofer Ben-Amots, Jan Jirasek, and David Tcimpidis.